find someone more tractable.
'She is right, Jason,' the Salamander said merrily, making her turn her head so suddenly to look at it that she nearly overset her coffee-cup. 'I know she's right, damn it!' Cameron growled. The Salamander laughed.
Rose smiled triumphantly. 'Can I take it then, that this is about to become less a relationship of overlord and serf, and enter a stage of cooperation? Or-at least let it be an arrangement of lord and knight!'
'Only if you are willing to abide by some rules,' Cameron countered swiftly. 'If you wish to be my knight, you must obey my decrees, true? I did not show you all this only to have you flout my authority in Magick. I am the authority there. If I am occasionally terse with you, it is because I do not have the time or the leisure to be otherwise. If I give you a direct order, I expect it to be obeyed.'
She nodded, primly. 'Of course. You are still my employer, and these are deep waters. I may have the rudder, but you are both the navigator and the captain.'
'Very well.' He sounded calmer, more satisfied. 'I shall accelerate your Magickal education, and I shall not trouble to hide the activities of my servants from you. In fact, I shall assign one to you to tend to your needs, the same one that has been cleaning and picking up after you. Simply speak what you want aloud if you have any request, and it will tend to the task.'
As unnerving as the floating fire-lizards were, she actually was relieved. At least now she could see the presence in her rooms. And now she knew it wasn't du Mond. That was reassuring all by itself.
Is there a grudging admiration in his voice? At least he won't be tempted to take me for granted now.
'I will still be attending to the matters of my business during ordinary office hours, so you will still have your afternoons free,' Cameron continued. 'However, I must ask you not to discuss any of this with du Mond. I believe that Paul may be jealous of you, and this would only confirm that jealousy. He wishes more from me than he deserves-or than I intend to give him.'
Interesting. What is he to du Mond, or du Mond to him? Master and Apprentice? Or prisoner and keeper? On the other hand, she would really rather not discuss anything with Paul du Mond if she could help it.
This entire situation had an air of such unreality that it should have been a dream. That must have been why she felt bold enough to say incredible things.
I will wake up in the morning, and this will never have happened. This is all a dream; I fell asleep over that book by Dee, and I am dreaming all this.
'I would just as soon see as little of Mr. du Mond as possible,' she said slowly. 'If it is all the same to you.'
'That will suit me perfectly,' came the reply, which only made her wonder. Was there something that du Mond might tell her that Cameron did not want her to know? But what could it be? Were there still more secrets to be revealed?
'So, I take it that our schedule is still the same?' she said, vaguely aware that she should say something. It was trivial, but at least it was something. 'Exactly the same,' Cameron told her, and there was no mistaking the satisfaction in his voice, as if now he had decided that he had accomplished something that he was very pleased with. 'The only difference will be that now I will not have to wait for you to be conveniently absent or asleep to send my servants about. And now that you have recalled the schedule, may I assume that you are prepared to resume that schedule?'
'I am not so frail that I am in need of a bottle of smelling salts after all this,' she said sharply. She pinched herself sharply. She did not wake up.
All right. This is no dream. And I am reasonably certain neither of us is insane. Well, I'm sure I'm not. This is not medieval moonshine; it is only a new kind of science. Surely, if I had never seen an electric light before, I would find it just as magical as the Salamander 'Send me your book, sir, and I shall resume my duties this very instant!'
He laughed; he was very pleased with himself. He sounded just like one of her father's cronies who had soundly trounced another in debate. 'You may relax and enjoy your sweet, Miss Hawkins,' he said indulgently, as one would to a child. 'The events of tonight prevented my selecting your books, and it will take a moment before they appear.'
The Salamander giggled again, and vanished soundlessly. Rosalind Hawkins was alone again in her sitting- room, torn between fuming with anger and shaking with emotions she couldn't quite define. Surely Lewis Carroll's Alice had never found herself in quite so strange a situation!
Certainly she had never encountered a male creature quite so infuriating!
Caught between conflicting emotions, she finally did what any sensible person would do.
She ate her dessert, and sat back to wait for the books to appear.
